Loose-leaf filing device



' p 1945- H. R. FEDERN LOOSE LEAF FILING DEVICE Filed Nov. 9, 1943 Patented Apr. 3, 1945 UNI ED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOOSE- LEAF FILING DEYIQE Hans Robert Federn, Oxford, England Application November 9, 1943, Serial.N0- 5409,6,09 In Great Britain November. 20, 1912 11 Claims.

,ilhis invention relates to improvements in loose leaf .filingdevicesof the hind inwhi the pa ers a e en ag d by 111111 or l m mber through holesadjacent one ed e of the papers and is readily applicable -fcr use in conjunction with transfe arches to iaoilitate insp io of th papers included the f l a d the in ertion and emova .such pape s- M ro parti ula ly tb invent onis concern d wi h mprc cdsl n whi h t e nap encaeing means ismade pa tlyor wh l y .of illexible material su cord. ru er .o closely coiled wire. l

' One 1 of';tho obje ts of .tshe invention is to bind securely the papers towbehstored in the file :by means of one or more pairs of the paper-engaging members, .at least onemember ofeach such ables this to be done by providing means to .en

gage the zlooplimsuch a way as to remove the slack therein.

An0ther;objeot of the invention :'iS' t0.el'l3.b1e the slack in the saidloop'to'be takenupto a greater ,orilesser extentaccording to the .variable thickness :of :the papers. ;It is 2 also preferable for the papereengagingmembers to be made fl xible throughout and .of substantially equal len th. .Theterm foonstantlength as pplie to the loopis :not exclusive of a such elongation as may-be; permitted .by .the..elasticity of the :material pf :whichthepapenengaging members are composed and. which may iniactibe utilized to assist in the engagement and disengagement of the lo p.

The aforesaid .variationintheeficctive .leng-th of the loopsorlloops may :beefiectedby m n of one or more hooks orth like provided adjacent the paper-engaging :members and prefer- .ably t bas Wh roon those members are mounted. yvhen the :fi1e. is 110 be closed the said pap reenea in embers a Join gather attheir upper free extremities and the resulting loop v(by which the papers are contained by having two holes punched therein in th usual ma neneach mem er assin -throu h oneof these-holes) is then taken v h adiao nt t p rear edge of the .blo k or papers and engaged .with .-one :or mor of these. books 5.

cording to the number of .papers. If there are few papers to be accommodateda greater number of hooks will have tobe engaged than-when thereare more papers,- in order to tie in the cone ts secu el The hooksm ybe m u o the base out ide h bl ck of pape and i cted away therefrom while the flexible members may be j i in own .manner as for instanQe in the case of closely coiled wire members by hav- 1 0 ing a pin fixed in the end of the one to engage frictionally in the .end of the other.

A still further object of the inventionis to enable such a device to be readily .fitted with transferarch meansi the following way. The

15 base may; provide mountings for further paperengaging members which can beentirely similar to thosealready described, andmaybesuitably spaced from the block of papers one in association with. each of the main paper-engaggo ing members. The ends 0f the latterwhen di connected from one anothen can be individually coupled each to its associated transfer .arch member. An extension of thebasecan be used to carry these transfer arch members and this :5 extension may be made collapsible to permit of horizontal contraction thereof or maybe removable pro'viding itdoes not also support the loopn aging ho ks; r

Theinvention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 shows by way of example a practical .form of letter file according to the i1 1venti or 1, provided with transfer arch means extended'substantially ready ior use;

136 Figure 2 shows the transfer arch means ooh lapsed and theflexible paperee -gagi-ng members joined to form a loop;

Figure 31s a similar view withthe loopinpositiontobind the papers; while .40 Figure 14 shows a modified construction.

A. suflicient portion of the file c over or folder o h p se ofl-i-llu rat rie th n-venti ..i showninFigure 1 only. This cover consists of twosides HI and connectedby-a flegriblebaok l2 to;permit.greater ;or lesser separation of the sides according to the thickness of papers in the file. Any ot suitable fo mv o iasiius a back may however;be substituted. Themain supporting bar I3 of the device is secured in the usual way .50 as byrivets to-the'inner face of one of the sides near the rear ledgethereoi pn this bar are ca wo upstand n f a bl paue cneae ns leg or ni inembe sc-and. blalthoue m than a s n e pai .Can'be u ed i esire b ipos jtion one-blo k o pap r -p to be a mmodated in the file is indicated in the drawing by chain dotted lines, the holes 21 and p2 by which the papers are engaged by the flexible members being similarly shown. Parallel with bar 13 and substantially coplanar therewith is an auxiliary bar hl provided with laterally projecting arms i which slidably engage the main bar l3 so that bar It may be collapsed against the latter or alternatively drawn away therefrom to a distance limited by stops l6. Alternatively the bars may be connected by articulated arms l5a (as shown in Figure 4) to achieve the same result,

it being preferable for the movement of the bars to take place or to be capable of taking place without appreciable relative longitudinal, as distinct from transverse displacement such as, in the collapsed condition, would result in the auxiliary bar 14 no longer lying directly opposite that part of the main bar which carries the fiexible members a and b. The reason for this is that the hook or series of hooks l'i whereby the surplus of the binding loop ab is adjustably engaged can most conveniently be mounted, as shown, on the auxiliary bar M which, if collapsed against the main bar 13 in this substantially transverse fashion to the position shown in Figure 2, will ensure the hooks being located correctly in relation to the loop.

'In addition to the hooks ll, bar l4 also carries two auxiliary flexible pin or leg members 0 and d which when the bars are separated as.

shown in Figure 1 are designed to be connected to flexible members a and b respectively to form transfer arches. When filing is completed and these transfer arches are opened, members a and b are interconnected as shown in Figure 2 and bar I4 is pushed in. It follows that if the engagement between these various flexible members is of the pin and socket type, members a and d must be provided with the one kind of connecting end-piece and members I) and c with the other kind. Members a and 2) having been joined, the loop is drawn down over the top back edge of the papers and engaged with the necessary number of the hooks I! to take up the slack therein as shown in Figure 3. It should be noted that if only one hook is provided, there are only two possible variations in the quantity of papers which can be securely bound, viz. enough to ensure no slack in the loop when members a and b are simply joined together (which is not really a practical possibility unless the material of which the members are composed is capable of considerable elastic extension), or enough to permit the slack of the loop being taken up by engagement on the single hook. In eiTect therefore the provision of one hook only, may mean absence of adjustment and in general, the greater the number of the hooks the more variation is possible in the quantity of papers which can be tightly bound in place. When disconnected, the flexible members 0 and d can either be joined together as shown in Figure 2 or they may be spread outwardly to be engaged under the hooks l8 which can optionally be provided near the ends of the main bar l3 as shown in Figures 3 and 4 or they may be bent inwardly and engaged under one or more of the hooks H.

In some cases, it may not be necessary to make provision for an extensible mounting such as bar M for the auxiliary transfer arch flexible members c and d, it being sufiicient, especially if the material of which they and members a and b are made, is very flexible, to have the said members c and d mounted for instance on a fixed lateral extension of the main bar l3 which extension may occupy permanently, just the same position as does the bar l4 when in its collapsed position shown in Figures 2 and 3. The same will apply when there are no transfer arch facilities, in which case the members 0 and at will be omitted and the extension may simply serve as a supporting platform for the line of hooks H. These hooks may be arranged in a curve or disposed in any other suitable non-rectilinear fashion to provide the desired variation in the extent to which the slack in the flexible loop can be taken up thereby. Also and particularly in absence of transfer arch means the members a and b may be of unequal length, one only being provided with the flexible projecting end which is needed to join the free extremities of the members and to form the loop.

I claim:

1. A filing device comprising in combination at least one main pair of paper-engaging members each with a flexible projectin end, auxiliary paper-engaging members one in association with each of the members of the main pair, separable connecting means between the extremities of each main member and its associated auxiliary member, such connecting means when disconnected being such as to permit alternative connection of the extremities of the main pair of members whereby a flexible loop of constant length can be formed and means for engaging the said loop when required for the purpose of removing slack therein and to bind the paper in the file.

2. A filing device according to claim 1 wherein the auxiliary paper-engaging members are mounted on a filin base having a lateral extension on which the auxiliary members are mounted.

3. A filing device according to claim 1 including a filing base, and wherein the loop engaging means comprises at least one hook member on said base in position to be engaged by the loop when passed over the top rear edge of the block of papers in the file.

4. A filing device according to claim 1 including a filing base on which the main paper-engaging members are mounted and a horizontally contractile extension of said base on which the auxiliary members are mounted.

5. A filing device comprising a filing base, a pair of flexible paper-engaging members on said filing base, separable connecting means between the extremities of the said members to form a loop of constant length and a plurality of hook members also on said filin base in position to be engaged one or more at a time by the said loop when passed over the top rear edge of the block of papers in the file.

6. A filing device comprising in combination at least one pair of paper engaging members, a flexible projecting end on at least one of said pair of members, separable connecting means between the extremities of said pair of members whereby a flexible loop of constant length can be formed, and means for engaging the said loop when passed back over and down behind the top rear edge of the papers held in assembled relation by said paper engaging members for the purpose of removing slack therein and to bind the papers in the file.

7. A filing device according to claim 6, wherein the loop engaging means permits of the slack in the loop being taken up to a greater or lesser extent according to the variable thickness of the papers to be accommodated while keeping the loop substantially taut.

8. A filing device comprising in combination a filing base, at least one pair of paper engaging members thereon, a flexible projecting end on at least one of said pair of members, separable connecting means between the extremities of said pair of members whereby a flexible loop of constant length can be formed, and hook means on said filing base in position to be engaged by the loop when passed over the top rear edge of the block of papers in the file for the purpose of removing slack therein and to bind the papers in the file.

9. A filing device according to claim 8, wherein the hook means is carried on a lateral extension of the filing base adjacent the paper engagin members.

10. A filing device according to claim 1, wherein the loopengaging means permits of the slack in the loop being taken up to a greater or lesser extent according to the variable thickness of the papers to be accommodated While keeping the loop substantially taut.

11. A filing device according to claim 1 including a filing base on which the main paper en- 

